Off to Florida

"" episode
"Off to Florida"
	Season 6, Episode #6 ; #159 in Series
Series:
Network:
Air date:	November 12, 1956
Written by:	Bob Carroll, Jr.; Madelyn Martin; Bob Schiller; Bob Weiskopf
Directed by:	James V. Kern
Production code:	6-06 / 159
	Episode guide
IMDB	Off to Florida
Episode chronology
"Visitor From Italy"	"Deep Sea Fishing"

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s29/ABMfisher/ButteredGrass.jpg http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s29/ABMfisher/MechanicJack.jpg

Off to Florida was the 159th overall episode of I Love Lucy, also the 6th episode of season 6, the final season of the series. The episode was directed by James V. Kern, originally aired on CBS-TV on November 12, 1956.

Synopsis[]

Driving to Miami to meet their husbands, the girls share the drive with a strange lady (Elsa Lanchester) they suspect is an ax murderess. Character actor Strother Martin appears as a store clerk.

Plot summary[]

Ricky, Fred, and Little Ricky are heading down to Florida to fish. Lucy and Ethel are supposed to arrive in three days on the train. But when it comes time to get on the train, Lucy can't find the tickets! She and Ethel end up having to bum a ride with an odd woman named Mrs. Grundy. Along the way, Lucy and Ethel are forced to change Mrs. Grundy's flat tire, and while they're looking for a jack in the trunk, they find a hatchet. That night, Lucy and Ethel are listening to the radio, and on the news, the announcer says that the infamous hatchet murderess Evelyn Holmby escaped from jail and is headed south. The clues seem to add up to Mrs. Grundy being the hatchet murderess, and the girls are scared!

The next morning, Mrs. Grundy hears on the radio news that Evelyn Holmby dyed her hair red and is heading south with a blonde accomplice. Now, Mrs. Grundy thinks that Lucy and Ethel are the criminals! Mrs. Grundy stops at a cafe, and all three women try to call for help. Mrs. Grundy sees her opportunity when Lucy and Ethel's backs are turned, and she drives off without them, stranding them at the cafe. They learn from the cafe owner that Evelyn Holmby just was captured, so Mrs. Grundy wasn't the criminal after all. Lucy and Ethel end up hitchiking the rest of the way to Florida on a truck with live poultry. The boys find out they didn't take the train when they arrive BEFORE the train and Little Ricky shows his mother that he was storing the "lost" train tickets in his new wallet!

Trivia[]

The plan for Lucy to go to Florida during the winter that was mentioned in episode #155 finally comes to fruition.
Lucy thinks that watercress sandwiches taste like buttered grass.
Mrs. Grundy stops to sleep at midnight. She wants to be back on the road at 4 am. It is very unlikely that she could have driven well after only four hours of sleep!
his is the first episode where Ricky's common angry Spanish uttering is given specific notice. In the later seasons, Ricky started to say the same thing every time he got mad, unlike the actual Spanish dialogue used in the earlier seasons. We learn from Lucy in this episode that the common phrase Ricky says is "Mira que tiene cosa mujer esta!" This is not even proper Spanish grammar. It literally translates as "Look at that he/she has thing woman is located!" HUH?!
According to the DVD's guest cast list, Mrs. Grundy's first name is Edna!
Evelyn Holmby was caught in Kentucky before Lucy, Ethel, and Mrs. Grundy arrived at the cafe in Florida.
Lucy watched Ricky and Fred change a flat tire on their road trip to California.
Mrs. Grundy must have had gray hair and a cream-colored car, based on the details from the news bulletin that made Lucy and Ethel think she was the hatchet murderess.

Starring[]

Guest Starring[]

Richard Keith ... as Little Ricky
Elsa Lanchester ... as Mrs. Edna Grundy
Strother Martin ... as Cafe Waiter